Former U.S. President Donald Trump has stated he does not view Anthropic PBC as a threat to national security. This comment comes just days after his administration moved to restrict foreign access to the company's most advanced artificial intelligence models.
In a pre-recorded interview released on Friday, Trump remarked that he believes Anthropic has "acted very responsibly." This follows a directive from the U.S. Department of Commerce requiring the company, led by CEO Dario Amodei, to seek prior U.S. government approval before allowing foreign nationals to use its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models.
"He responded to us very quickly, because, you know, there's a huge responsibility involved," Trump stated. He also mentioned meeting with Amodei and other technology executives on Wednesday during the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France.
When asked if he considered Anthropic and Amodei to be a national security threat, Trump responded, "Well, not now. But a week ago, maybe."
The directive issued to Anthropic by the Commerce Department last week represents the most significant intervention by the U.S. government into the operations of an AI company to date. This presents a new challenge for Anthropic, which confidentially filed for an initial public offering several weeks ago with a latest valuation exceeding $900 billion.
Senior technical staff from Anthropic met with Trump administration officials this week in an effort to address the government's concerns.
Trump indicated he would not shut down the company. "I would do that, but I'm not sure I have to. I think it's been very responsible so far," he said during the interview.
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